PCCW'S Level of Debt

Updated July 19, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

I refer to Rebecca Buckman's July 1 article, "Hong Kong Firm's Chief Operating Officer to Resign," which said that PCCW was "still struggling to pay down debt."

PCCW borrowed $12 billion in August 2000 to complete the merger of PCCW and HKT. Since then, we have repaid almost two-thirds of our gross long-term debt, which stood at $4.42 billion at the end of last year. Net of cash holdings, this figure was $3.74...